Overweight (BMI>25)/obesity (Bl /ll>30) and diabetes mellitus (DM), a consequence of obesity, are growing public health crises in the US. The burden of overweight/obesity and DM is greater among Native Hawaiians (NHs), the indigenous people of Hawaii, and other Pacific Peoples (PPs) (e.g., Samoans, Chuukese, Filipinos) compared to the general population. This grant application titled, Partnerships to Improve Lifestyle Interventions (PILI) 'Ghana Dissemination Project, is the continuation of an 8-year community-based participatory research (CBPR) initiative by the PILI 'Ghana Partnership (PGP) to address obesity and related disparities in Hawaii and the larger Pacific. The PGP is comprised of 5 community, academic, and state organizations serving Native Hawaiians and Pacific Peoples (NHs/PPs). Gur CBPR mission is to integrate community wisdom and expertise with scientific methods to eliminate obesity and related disparities in NH/PP communities. Guided by theories of social action, social marketing, and diffusion of innovations, and a novel community-to-community mentoring model (CCMM) developed by our PGP, we will 1) Disseminate the scientific discoveries of the PGP and its lifestyle and diabetes intervention materials across 5 different types of community-based organizations serving Native Hawaiians and Pacific Peoples, 2) Implement the PGP's lifestyle and diabetes interventions across 5 different types of community-based organizations serving Native Hawaiians and Pacific Peoples, and 3) Assist in developing the capacity of community-based organizations serving Native Hawaiians and Pacific Peoples to engage in future health disparities research'using community-based participatory research (CBPR). Using the RE-AIM framework and a mixed-methods approach, we will evaluate our implementation strategies to include the contextual (e.g., type of CBG), organizational (e.g., mission, policies, leadership), individual (e.g., commitment, self-efficacy), and intervention (e.g., skills, motivation, fidelity) characteristics that affect the successful adoption, implementation (to include recruitment, retention, adaptations, and fidelity), and sustainability of the interventions.

Public Health Relevance

The public health relevance of the proposed research are: 1) a better understanding of how to disseminate and implement a healthy lifestyle and diabetes intervention in various community settings for NHs and PPs, 2) an increase In community organizations offering effective healthy lifestyle and diabetes interventions targeted at NH and PP, 3) enhanced capacity of community organizations serving NHs and PPs to engage in future health disparities research using participatory research approaches.